


it's not another picnic, is it?

by WellyFullOfAle



Series: Robron Week 2017 [1]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Absolute fluff, Domestic Bliss, Fluff, M/M, Roblivion, robert plans a surprise, robron - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 08:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9984230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WellyFullOfAle/pseuds/WellyFullOfAle
Summary: Robert has a little surprise planned for Aaron and Liv.Fluffy domesticated bliss.Written for Day One of Robron Week - Family.





	

“Can’t you just tell me where we’re going?”

Robert looked over at his husband in the passenger seat of the car and smirked – that smug, self-satisfied smirk that came to him so easily.

Especially when he was planning a surprise for his husband.

“Nope,” Robert answered him slyly.

Aaron couldn’t help but smile. He might always moan about his husband  being all cloak-and-dagger, but he secretly loved the way that Robert would arrange these little surprises every so often; keeping him guessing with what weird and wonderful schemes he’d come up with.

Robert Sugden was into a whole different kind of scheming these days – for the most part, anyway – and Aaron couldn’t complain. His man was certainly more Mr Romance these days than he was Mr Shifty.

He still loved his Mr Shifty, though, on the rare occasions Robert was forced to return to his underhand ways to protect their dysfunctional little family unit in some way.

“Don’t see why I had to come,” Liv piped up from the back seat, bringing Aaron’s thoughts back to the present.

Robert smiled, glancing up to his rear view mirror and catching her eye as she stared at him sullenly.

“Well, maybe it’s a surprise for you, too, Olivia,” Robert chirped, pleased with himself.

“Don’t call me that,” Liv snapped back, sinking back down in the back seat and returning her gaze to her phone.

Aaron frowned as he looked out of the car window, trying to figure out where Robert was taking them. They’d been driving almost an hour, and Aaron was wracking his brain trying to figure out where they could be heading.

It was a miserable day – the drizzle was landing softly against the windscreen of the car in waves, and the cloud was settling over the tops of the Dales in front of them, enveloping the rolling green hills, hiding their peaks behind a veil of mist.

Aaron had seen Robert hide something away in the boot of the car before they’d left, and Robert had stopped him from opening up the boot to put his coat inside, and Aaron knew it had something to do with the surprise Robert had planned for him. He just prayed it wasn’t another of those times when Robert packed them up a picnic with far too much bread and an endless supply of beige food; he couldn’t imagine today was really the weather for a picnic.

He recognised the roads they were driving down – knew they were close to the spot Robert had bought him too for their last ‘surprise picnic’ on their six month wedding anniversary, shortly after his release from prison.

“It’s not another picnic is it, Rob?” Aaron asked him, breaking through the amiable silence in the car, genuinely concerned that Robert Sugden wouldn’t let something like the weather stop one of his grand romantic gestures.

There was a hint of disapproval in his tone, and Robert picked up on it.

“Thought you liked our picnics?” Robert replied, Aaron aware the affronted nature of his tone wasn’t genuine.

Aaron laughed.

“Yeah, not when it’s pissing down with rain, though,” Aaron replied with a roll of his eyes.

There was a moment of hesitation, Robert considering whether now was the time to tell Aaron and Liv what he had planned for them.

“It’s not a picnic,” Robert assured his husband.

He decided to keep the secret a little longer, anticipating the look of confusion on Aaron’s face when they pulled up to their destination; wanting to be able to take it all in without needing to revert his concentration back to the road every few seconds.

Robert took a right turn off the main road, familiar with the route having done a practice run to check out the place a couple of weeks beforehand, having put a few prior arrangements in place to make sure everything was ready for them.

The road they’d taken was narrow – only wide enough for one car – and the path was winding around the deserted landscape. Robert chanced a glance over to Aaron and saw him frowning, eyes glancing around for any sort of hint as to where Robert was taking them. Robert assumed Aaron had missed the signpost on the main road, happy it meant the surprise wasn’t ruined before they arrived.

Robert slowed down into one hairpin bend – his driving having become a lot less erratic since the accident over a year ago – and he saw Aaron flinch as they rounded the corner without being able to see if anything was coming. They made it around safely, and Robert felt a flutter of relief. He didn’t often think about their accident, but occasionally he would get a flash of a memory of that day, and it would still him in his tracks. Life without Aaron didn’t even bear thinking about – and he didn’t often allow himself to do so; not for long – but he’d definitely become a more careful driver since then. Especially with such precious cargo as he had with him now.

His family.

This place where he belonged, more than he ever had done in his life before.

This one piece of perfection that he didn’t ever want to lose, or to let go of. He’d had a taste of life without Aaron when he’d been in prison, and it had made him more sure than he’d ever been about anything in his life.

He just didn’t function properly without Aaron.

Aaron’s time in prison had been tough. Robert hadn’t ever really let Aaron know just _how_ tough it had been for him – they hadn’t wanted to talk about it when he’d been released, insisting that they needed to focus on their future from then on, and everything they had to look forward to. Aaron had counselling to help him, and without Aaron having to ask him, Robert knew his husband wanted to only focus on the time they could spend together now, rather than dwelling on the past.

Robert knew he’d talk to him if he needed to.

It had been the longest six months of Robert’s life. He’d wanted to stay strong for Aaron, to let him know that life on the outside was carrying on, and to give his husband something to look forward to – to know that their home would be ready for him at the end of his sentence; to know that Liv was settled and being looked after. He’d had to stay positive on their prison visits, if he could. There had been times they’d argued though – about the problems Aaron faced on the outside; about the way Aaron closed himself off and pushed him away at times; at the way Aaron doubted him, despite everything he’d done for him.  About the way Aaron seemed insistent on making things worse for himself with the choices he made on the inside. About the way Aaron could see how precious he was to Robert; how Robert needed him to look after himself.

He’d struggled to get through it most days – had hated waking up without him every morning; how cold the bed seemed without him there. He’d missed him – missed the feel of his stubble nuzzling into the back of his neck after their alarms woke them simultaneously in the morning; missed the sound of his breath, hot and heavy in the midst of their usual early morning session, his groans as he’d come apart each time under Robert’s skilful touch and nimble fingers; the sight of him emerging from their bathroom, towel slung low on his waist, exposing the delicious V of his hipbones framing the definition of his muscular frame, bearing the scars of his vulnerability.

Robert could hardly believe this man was his sometimes.

This beautiful, strong, survivor was his; forever.

Was it any wonder he wanted to arrange these surprises to keep that increasingly-less-rare occurrence of a genuine smile on his husband’s face?

He’d made it his mission since having Aaron back with him to make him smile every day, with nothing but their _forever_ together to look forward to.

He looked across at him now as they drove towards the peak of a hill, feeling the jump in his stomach as they rounded over the brow of it, exposing the sight of the rolling Dales before them.

He noticed the slight flicker of awe on Aaron’s face – his small smile at the beauty of their surroundings – and he was filled with love for the way he knew this strong, masculine man that he married had a soft spot for a good view.

He’d found that out on one of their picnic trips; when he’d been impulsive and in the mood for a little al fresco thrill at the hands of his husband, and Aaron had insisted they shifted positions half way through so that he could take in the sight of Robert coming for him with the beauty of the Yorkshire Dales in the background.

Robert had fallen in love with him all over again in that moment; feeling as if his heart wasn’t able to contain everything he felt for his man in that moment.

It’s something he promised himself he’d never forget.

Aaron caught him looking at him with awe in the memory of it, and Robert shifted his attention back to the road, smile stretching from one side of his face to the other.

“What?” Aaron smiled, questioningly.

“Nothing,” Robert glanced back at him, his expression playful. “Just, I remember how much you love a good view.”

Aaron shifted up in his seat, cheeks tinged with the creeping of a blush and he slapped Robert’s thigh with the back of his hand, fully aware of the memory that must have been running through Robert’s mind in that moment.

“Shut up,” he warned playfully under his breath, involuntarily casting a glance in Liv’s direction in the back seat to check if she’d caught on to Robert’s teasing.

“Used to it,” Liv muttered from the back seat, eyes fixed to her phone, ignoring her brother and his husband’s undoubted heart-eyes.

Robert laughed and widened his eyes at Aaron suggestively.

“It is pretty beautiful up here though, we’ll have to come back one day,” he winked to his husband.

“Uh huh,” Aaron replied, biting down on his bottom lip to stop his smile from spreading too wide and giving himself away to Robert. “Sounds good to me,” he said as he caught his breath.

He fell more in love with Robert every single day.

He let himself take in the beauty of the countryside before him.

The sun had started to pierce through the low lying cloud as the rain dried up, and the sight of it split the Dales in half in front of him, half basking in the rays as they blessed themselves on the green fields; the other half struggling to let itself seen behind the misty cloud. The meeting of the two weather systems had created the faintest of rainbows which spread itself out into an archway over the valley below them; framing the lake which rippled with the wind in the dip where the two hills rolled to meet each other to their left.

He may have spent his whole life in these parts – or the vast majority of it, anyway – but after having been deprived of anything resembling the outdoors whilst he’d been in prison, he’d learnt to appreciate it so much more.

There were scatterings of stone farmhouses dotted around the hills, surrounded by squares of green broken up with irregular patterns made by the dry stone walls, no rhyme or reason to their placement. They passed a couple of ramblers who waited on the side of the road for them to pass, Robert offering them a wave of his hand in thanks as they passed, and they rounded the corner in the road and past the welcome sign to a small hamlet, nothing more to it than a selection of quaint farmhouses and barns over a low-lying bridge.

Aaron’s eyes widened as Robert indicated and turned up a dirt path, driving towards what looked like nothing more than an old farmhouse.

“What the hell, Robert?” Liv moaned from the back seat.

“Charming!” he chastised her, never used to her seemingly consistent lack of gratitude whenever he tried to do something nice for her.

He cast a glance in his rear view mirror, though, and smiled to himself when he noticed she’d put her phone away and was looking out of her window with what seemed like intrigue.

He knew her well enough to know that meant she was at least a little bit excited about finding out what Robert had planned for them, and that was enough to make it worthwhile.

They’d had a jilted start to their relationship – Robert and Liv – and both would be the first to admit that they’d been unsure of each other at the start. Liv had wanted Aaron all to herself when she’d moved to Emmerdale; but so had Robert – he’d waited long enough for him, after all – and they’d found themselves in some sort of competition for his attention.

They’d managed to learn to tolerate each other after a while – realising Aaron had enough love to fill the both of them, and that together the three of them made some sort of dysfunctional family that somehow worked. When Aaron had been sent to prison, Robert had stepped up and taken care of Liv as best he could. He’d needed Chas’s help, too, and he wasn’t going to pretend she’d been the easiest to handle. She’d missed Aaron too, but she was so similar to him in the way that she coped with things, and Robert couldn’t always find the patience to deal with her issues alongside the aching in his own heart for his never-present husband. But they seemed to reach an understanding as the months crept by, and now they existed in this weirdly affectionate family situation where they both seemed to know – even if it was always left unsaid – that they’d be there for each other no matter what, and they wouldn’t have made it through those 6 months of Aaron’s imprisonment without each other.

If he was really honest with himself, Robert had grown to love Liv as if she was his own sister.  He could see so much of Aaron in her, sometimes, and how could he not love that?

He’d planned this surprise as much for her as for Aaron, and he couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she worked out what was happening, just as much as he couldn’t wait to see his husband’s reaction, either.

Robert pulled up in front of the large, stone built farmhouse that stood at the end of the driveway, tyres crackling along the gravel until he aligned himself alongside a blue Jeep already parked there and turned off his engine.

He looked at Aaron, who was busy surveying their surroundings with a look of utter confusion on his face.

“Okay, Robert,” Aaron started, looking at him, brow furrowed, left side of his lips upturned. “I have no idea what this is.”

Robert smirked.

“Let’s find out, then.”

Robert opened his car door, and as soon as they were outside of the car he could hear the same noise that had given him a headache last time he’d been here.

Aaron and Liv heard it too, and Robert was sure then that something clicked for Aaron.

Dogs.

Scores of dogs, barking their little hearts out.

A short, portly lady emerged from the front door of the farm house, smiling warmly as she advanced towards them, greying hair tied up in a wayward bun atop her head.

“Ah, hello again,” she beamed at Robert, extending her hand to him in welcome, her Yorkshire accent strong and unmistakeable.

“Hi,” Robert smiled back at her. “Good to see you again. This is my husband I told you about last time,” he explained as he smiled towards Aaron. “And our…Liv.”

He never knew how to explain Liv to outsiders.

She was his family; their family. She was their Liv.

“Hello, eh up,” the lady smiled at Aaron and Liv. “Welcome to Dales Dog Rescue. You’re the German Shepherd expert, then?” she asked Aaron, smiling broadly.

Aaron couldn’t wipe the smile from his face. He looked towards his husband, overwhelmed with excitement as he realised what Robert’s surprise was.

“Wh – well – uhh – yeah,” Aaron stuttered in response to her question, smiling broadly, unsure why it was that this stranger seemed to know about his past with his dog Clive, but aware of how much Robert knew he missed that dog.

“Well, we rescue all sorts of dogs here,” she told him, ushering them through to the side barn; the sound of barking getting louder as they made their way through. “Robert told us you’ve got experience with big dogs, and that you’d probably be looking for a younger dog to complete your family. We’ve done your home check and inspection so any dog you choose you can be ready to take away with you today. Your lovely husband has already covered the adoption fees, too. So come through, and take a look around. Remember these are rescue dogs and they all have their back story; some have more issues than others. Honestly, how some people treat these animals is disgusting. Anyway, they can be a lot different in their kennels to how they are out in the yard so if any of them take your fancy, let me know and we can get them out in the yard for you to give them a walk, and I can let you know whatever information we have on them and where they’ve come from. All of them have been checked by the vets and we have volunteer dog psychologists and trainers in here to work with all of our dogs. Any questions?”

Aaron had tried to take in everything she’d said as she walked them through to the kennels at the back of the farmhouse, nodding along as she’d explained everything to him, casting the odd glance back towards Robert and smiling like an excited school kid.

“No, don’t think so,” he answered her, eager to get inside to see the dogs.

“OK, I’ll leave you to have a look around the kennels, I’ll be back in the farmhouse if you need me,” she smiled warmly at them, and returned back through the door she’d just lead them out of.

Aaron couldn’t believe how excited he felt. He couldn’t have imagined a better surprise than for Robert to agree to them getting a dog to complete their little family unit. He thought his hints over the past few months had fallen on deaf ears – aware Robert had never been one for pets; how he’d basically ignored Dog when he’d lived with Chrissie at Home Farm. He couldn’t see Robert being selfless enough to give up some of his independence in order to care for an animal, or to take the time to train one, and he’d assumed Robert would turn his nose up at the idea of having an animal roam around their newly decorated home, especially after he’d become so house proud recently.

“Robert, are you sure?” Aaron beamed at his husband.

Robert smiled and pulled him close, arms around Aaron’s waist, placing a gentle peck against his lips and speaking quietly into the space between the two of them.

“Yes, Aaron, of course I am,” he smiled back, accepting the kiss that Aaron returned.

“Thank you,” he smiled, eyes filled with warmth for his husband before he leant back in claim his lips again, lingering this time, smiling with it as he felt Robert’s arms pull him even closer, eradicating any daylight between their bodies.

“Eurgh, do you have to always do that?” Liv scowled at them.

Robert ignored her, taking his sweet time to savour the taste of his husband against his lips, before breaking apart and turning to face her, leaving his left arm around Aaron’s waist and snaking his hand further along his back, pressing his fingers into Aaron’s left hip.

“Yep!” Robert smirked at her, pleased with himself, getting an eye-roll in response.

He felt Aaron snake his arm around his waist, fingers tracing along the sensitive skin down his left side; skin sparking into goosepimples at the feel of it.

“Come on, let’s go get ourselves a dog!”

Robert was sure he saw something resembling a smile on Liv’s face as they followed her into the kennels.

They were there for over two hours.

Liv had been cut-throat – she’d made her way around every kennel in there within 5 minutes and she’d ruled out 90% of the dogs there. Some had been too big, too small, too loud, too quiet, too boisterous, too boring. A few had made it through her selection criteria, and she’d insisted they pick one of them for a walk.

Aaron had taken longer, though, and he’d insisted to Liv that he wanted to spend some proper time deciding, and she’d told him she’d wait outside until they decided which ones to walk.

Robert couldn’t help sensing Aaron’s unease as they walked around the kennels, stopping by each dog and spending a good deal of time talking to them in the same voice Robert recognised from when Aaron would speak to Leo.

“What’s wrong?” Robert asked him after he’d shrugged his shoulders and walked away from what Robert thought was the 12th dog in a row.

“Nothing,” Aaron shrugged quietly, crouching down to take a look into the kennel of the next dog.

Robert crouched down next to him.

“Aaron, come on,” he pleaded quietly, using his soft voice that he seemed to have reserved only for Aaron. “I know you, and there’s something wrong. I thought you’d like this surprise?”

Aaron looked at Robert then and smiled, standing up as Robert followed suit.

“I do, Robert, I do,” Aaron insisted, quick to make sure Robert knew he was thankful. “I’m well up for getting a dog, honestly, you know that.”

“So…?” Robert questioned, unsure what could be bringing out this hesitant, quiet side to his husband.

If he was honest, he’d given up trying to guess the reasoning behind Aaron’s mood sometimes.

“Well, how am I meant to pick just one?” Aaron questioned, shuffling around on his feet, looking to the floor. “There’s loads of them in here and they all need a home, and how do I pick one and leave the rest of them here?”

Aaron Dingle: Yorkshire’s answer to Paul O’Grady. Who would have thought it?

“Are you serious?” Robert asked him, hint of laugh in disbelief behind his words.

“What? Yeah!”

Aaron seemed actually offended that Robert was laughing at him.

“Aaron, you’ve always said you wanted a rescue dog. I know the Mill is big but we haven’t got room for all of these! The rest of them will find a home, Aaron, but only one of them is coming with us!”

Aaron had chewed down on his bottom lip, before realising Robert had a point.

He was being soft.

And at least if they took one home, that would be one less dog in these kennels.

They spent another half an hour seeing all of the dogs, before picking a few to walk out in the yard. A few of them had been just nervous when they’d been out walking with them, and a couple had been too far out of control for even Aaron to handle.

Then the lady had brought out Bruce – a crossbreed, the vets having been unable to pinpoint exactly what his heritage was – but he was big and tall, coming up to Liv’s waist as she stood next to him, beaming with happiness as she stroked along his black and brown fur, his fluffy tail swaying from side to side with the attention she pored over him. She ruffled his ears, and he surged towards her to lick up her cheek.

“Ew, gross,” she laughed, wiping his slobber away with the back of her coat sleeve before hurling a tennis ball into the air for him to go fetch.

Robert couldn’t help but think about whether that was the happiest he’d seen Liv in months.

“Bruce!” she called out to him as she sat down on the wooden bench in the field, and he obediently trotted over to her, lifting himself up to place his front two bear-cub paws over her knees, tilting his head in to her chest as she circled his neck with her arms.

She looked up to Aaron, pleading in her eyes, smiling like he hadn’t seen her smile before.

“Aaron, please!” she begged.

She didn’t need to.

Aaron had been sold the second he’d seen Bruce cover Liv in saliva whilst wagging his bushy tail.

Aaron looked to Robert; like he felt he needed his approval too.

“Your dog, your decision,” Robert smiled at him.

“ _Our_ dog,” Aaron corrected him.

Robert smiled, and took one more look over to Liv, her smile filling her face.

Bruce climbed off her lap, and made his way over to the two of them, as if he was aware that his future rested in their hands in that moment. He lifted his front paws up, and Aaron instinctively reached out with his arms to catch them, crouching down to ruffle the fur on Bruce’s head, stroking over his massive ears.

When Aaron looked up to Robert, Robert doubted his husband was aware of the size of the smile adorning his face.

Robert couldn’t argue with that.

He smiled, rolled his eyes with affection, and gave Aaron a little knowing nod.

Aaron’s smile widened even further, and he leant his face in to kiss the fur on the top of the dog’s head.

“Welcome to the family, Bruce!”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it :) I'm gonna try to do at least 4 days of robron week fics. Come say hi on tumblr wellyfullofale :)


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